


It's a Small World After Draal

by FalseProphet (Batmanthegroomer)



Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 02:32:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9300221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batmanthegroomer/pseuds/FalseProphet
Summary: He destroyed an ancient bridge and stopped a portal from opening. He killed the son of one of trollkind's most notorious enemies. He performed Shakespeare and kissed a girl--a girl he really liked--in front of tons of people. Jim thought that would have gotten him a few days off.He thought wrong.When a strange hole in the woods outside Arcadia is found--a hole that responds to the hornswaggle--it's decided that it's just too risky to leave it be. Jim selects Draal to accompany him on a rather unusual spelunking trip and unwittingly sets a strange series of events in motion.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place immediately following the defeat of Bular and has some very minor canon divergences, but over all the fic is meant to flow into the series as a whole.
> 
> Specific chapter warnings will be posted per chapter, but overall this will be a relatively 'safe' fic.

Jim's stomach was in knots, worse than opening night of Romeo and Juliet. His palms were so sweaty he was unable to concentrate on anything aside from how gross it felt to hold the handles of his bike. He shifted to stand on the pedals as he urged still-stiff muscles to go faster. His mother was home, asleep, and the last thing he needed was for her to wake up and find him gone... again.

As his bike shook and threatened to give out on the dirt path, he could see the looming figures of his troll friends in the distance. He couldn't be sure but he was also fairly certain he saw the smaller form of Toby dancing around their legs, arms in the air almost frantically. 

"Guys," Jim sighed as he coasted down a small hill towards the gathering, "I thought you said it was ok to take a break?" He slid his feet in the dirt, knowing the breaks wouldn't function well off-road. 

"And we did!" Blinky announced happily. "You had two full days to rest up."

"Two days?" Jim grumbled, fighting with the kickstand. "I just destroyed an ancient bridge, killed the son of Gunmar, and preformed Shakespeare in one night." Giving up with the kickstand Jim let his bike fall into the mossy bush at his feet. "I think I'm entitled to more than two days off."

"Heroes: Overworked and underpaid." Toby admonished.

"I'm not getting paid at all, Tobs." 

"I understand, Master Jim," Blinky at least sounded sympathetic. He moved to stand behind Jim and rubbed at his shoulders with one set of arms. "But the Trollhunter answers every call, and with your Changeling teacher still unaccounted for..."

"Yeah, yeah." Jim waved off Blinky's arms, returning AAARRRGGHH's smile. He paused as he looked around, then threw his arms in the air.

"So? What is it? What'd you find?"

"Hole." AAARRRGGHH supplied, pointing to a small crack in the ground a few feet away.

"You found..." Jim sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You guys seriously called me out here because you found a hole in the woods?"

"Not just any hole, Jimbo!" Toby declared happily. He helped himself into one of Blinky's pockets and produced the hornswaggle. He tossed it in the air, spun it and almost dropped it with a nervous chuckle. 

Jim crossed his arms over his chest and moved aside as his friend approached the hole. He crouched down as Toby waved him over, comforted by the thudding of AAARRRGGHH and Blinky joining them. 

"Beho~ld!" Toby sang, holding out the key. He placed the tip in the jagged hole and tapped the side. Half a second of nothing and then the hole lit up, light spilling upwards like a geyser. Jim fumbled backwards, caught by one of AAARRRGGHH's large hands. 

"Woah!" 

"Right?" Toby laughed, running the hornswaggle along the glowing runes just barely visible. "It sings too, listen." Toby dragged the key back and forth across the opening and a soft noise rose up. It reminded Jim of the sound a finger could make on the lip of a glass cup.

"Neat." Jim leaned forward and attempted to get a better look into the hole. "So, what is this? What's it mean?"

"Don't know." AAARRRGGHH said with a shrug, shaking his head.

"AAARRRGGHH speaks truth, Master Jim. We're just not sure, aside from knowing that it is absolutely imperative that we find out. Only Troll magics respond to the hornswaggle, and with Strickler likely to be desperate, we need to lock down on exactly what we are dealing with."

"All right so... What are we thinking? Research? Troll library?" Jim stood, heading back towards his bike. "I might be able to get Claire too--"

"Aahh, I'm afraid we're going to have to be a bit more hands on with this." Blinky interrupted, wringing his bottom set of hands. "We cannot risk leaving this exposed, even for the sake of research."

"So that means... what?" Jim said quietly, terror gripping at his gut.

"You are going spelunking!"

"Oh no! Oh no, no way! Come on guys!" Jim backed up, waving his hands in the air. "You--you want me to just... Really!? We have no way of knowing what's down there."

"Of course not, that's the point." Blinky glanced from Jim to AAARRRGGHH to Toby, confused. 

"That hole's too small, first off. I'll never fit." Jim stomped towards the hole and lifted a foot. He held it over the gap and tried to squeeze his toe through with no success.

"That's not a problem. We'll just--"

"I am not getting shrunk again." Jim wagged his finger at Blinky. 

"We'll just have to make the hole bigger then." Toby suggested, poking Jim's shoe with the hornswaggle curiously. All he received was a dirty look from Jim.

"I... Yes, I think that would work." Blinky tapped at his chin with a single hand, crossing the others over his chest. "It won't take us long, AAARRRGGHH is quite proficient at breaking things."

"Smashing." AAARRRGGHH said with a large grin.

"Ok, all right, fine." Jim slid his shoe off the hole and stared down at it as the light dimmed. "You guys make this uh, me sized. I'll get some supplies and tomorrow night I'll spelunk. In the meantime, I'm going to try and get some sleep, and maybe not have nightmares about being squeezed to death by Gunmar in a crack in the woods."

"Oh Master Jim," Blinky chuckled as Jim headed back towards his bike. "You won't be running into Gunmar in that hole! Unless..." All six eyes widened and Blinky turned quickly to AAARRRGGHH.

"Unless what?" Jim winced as he picked up his bike. He glanced over his shoulder when he was not answered. "Blinky. Unless what?"

"Unless..."

"Crack. Portal to Darklands." AAARRRGGHH supplied. "Like Fetch."

"WHAT!"

"Oh but the chances of that are slim, Master Jim!" Blinky laughed. "I mean, it's possible--not probable--though more probable than unlikely but certainly not presumable."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning for family feels.

"Oh, mom's home." Jim's voice grew quiet, laughter efficiently stopped as he and Toby rounded the corner on their bikes. Their trip home was the only free-time the Trollhunter seemed to have anymore. He tried his best to keep talk of everything serious out of the commute--as did Toby--but he had not been expecting his mother's car to be in the driveway.

"Maybe you two can watch a movie or something, go out to eat?" Toby suggested softly. He frowned at the expression on his friend's face. He reached out and patted Jim on the arm.

"Don't fret, Jimbo. She can't be mad at you forever. You'll think of something. You and your mom are like... super close, it'll work out. I promise."

"Thanks, Tobs. I'll try and remember that over the inevitable uncomfortable silence." Jim managed a small smile as his companion shrugged. He waved and they parted ways, returning temporarily to normal high school kid life.

Jim's feet were heavy with dread as he set his bike along the side of the house. He set his helmet on the handlebars and took a few deep breaths. He could feel the amulet in his back pocket jittering and shaking.

"Not now." He whispered. "But man for once I wish I could just..." Jim shook his head and stepped inside.

"Mom? You're home early. Everything all right?" He headed cautiously towards the kitchen where he could see his mother leaning against the counter.

"It's just a slow day." Barbara said quietly, staring down at her phone. "I'm technically on call but they sent me home for some rest. Gotta take it when you can get it, right?"

"Oh yeah, tell me about it." Jim smiled, moving to lean on the opposite side of the counter. His mother barely met his gaze and certainly didn't return his smile. He wilted as she turned for the fridge, leaving her phone. 

Jim glanced down at it and a roaring in the back of his head made his palms itch. Strickler! Maybe he'd tried contacting his mother? Maybe she knew something about where he was or what he was doing or... when he'd be back? Jim glanced quickly up at his mother, still bent over in the fridge. He wiggled his fingers, staring down at the phone.

He whispered an apology in his mind and quickly spun the phone to face him. He tapped faster than he'd ever tapped before--opening her messenger app, scrolling through recent contacts and selecting 'Walt'. He wrinkled his nose; not Strickler, Walt. He glanced nervously at his mother once more and flicked open the most recent conversation.

'Just give him time, Barbara. Don't you remember what it was like to be young and unstoppable? I assure you it's been longer for me than it has for you, and I recall vividly fearing no reaper.'

'You're not that much older than me, Walter. But I guess you're right. It's just hard watching my little boy grow up. I thought we would always be this close. Silly, I suppose. You've been a great help and I can't thank you enough.'

'My pleasure.'

Jim gagged quietly and shuddered. His guilt over putting his mother through so much was overshadowed by his disgust at Strickler. He seemed so-so... normal. Shuddering again Jim scrolled down to the more recent messages and his heart clenched. They were all from his mother.

'Are you free this afternoon for lunch? My treat?'

'Kids putting you through the ringer today, huh?'

'Just get back to me when you can, Walt. No pressure. Trust me, I understand a busy day at work! ;)'

'Walter?'

'I'm a little concerned. Call me?'

'All right, well, I'll be here when you're free.'

Jim slowly closed the app and returned the phone to where his mother had left it. He felt awful. All his mother knew was that this man she'd started to enjoy spending time with was ignoring her. This guy she'd invited into her house, shared common interest in her son, was now apparently avoiding her. Four days with no responses? If Strickler wasn't already on Jim's payback list, this would have solidly put him there. Not that he wanted Strickler to actually date his mother but... at least he could let her down easy instead of simply ignoring her texts.

"Jim?" Barbara said quietly, retreating from the fridge bare handed. 

"Yeah mom?" Jim tried not to sound hopeful, eager for a conversation.

For a second the two simply looked at one another. Barbara's mind a cacophony of fear and worry and hurt, and Jim's thoughts tumbling into guilt and shame and a horrid sense of responsibility. Eventually Barbara looked away and reached out for her phone.

"I'm going to order chinese. You want anything?" She offered her son a small smile.

"Oh uh, no-no thanks. MSG. It gives me these awful migraines."

"Oh, right. Right." Barbara nodded and stood for a moment longer in silence. "Jim?"

"Yeah?"

"Has... Is Mr.Strickler--"

"You didn't hear?" Jim interrupted quickly, wanting to spare his mother from having to ask. He pulled on a sad face as she lifted her eyebrows.

"He uhm--He had to take time off. A sudden death in the family, a nephew or something. It was really sudden. Coach Lawrence said he even left his cellphone and house keys in his office."

"Oh." Barbara's expression quickly moved from relieved to sorrowful. "That's--that's horrible."

"Yeah." Jim rubbed the back of his neck as another lie scribbled itself onto his soul.

"Well, be sure to give him my condolences when he gets back."

"I'll--uh, we're signing a card. I'll bring it home before we send it off."

"That'd be great, honey. Thanks." 

Jim watched his mother turn and head up the stairs. He slowly sank into the counter top, smooshing his face against the cold marble. He covered his heads with his hands and groaned.

"You are the worst son in the history of ever." He berated himself.


End file.
